Has He then taken daughters out of His own creation and chosen sons for you? 16 When any of them is given the news of the very thing [i.e. a female child] which he himself has ascribed to the All Merciful, his face darkens and he is filled with grief -- 17 Do they assign to Allah one who grows up amidst ornaments and is not well-versed in the art of disputation? 18 And they have made the angels, who are themselves servants of the All-merciful, females. What, did they witness their creation? Their witness shall be written down, and they shall be questioned. 19 They say, 'Had the All-merciful so willed, we would not have served them.' They have no knowledge of that; they are only conjecturing. 20 Or have We given them some Book before this, to which they hold fast? 21 In fact, they say, "We found our fathers following a certain belief and we now follow in their footsteps for our guidance". 22 And thus it is: whenever We sent, before thy time, a warner to any community, those of its people who had lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures would always say: "Behold, we found our forefathers agreed on what to believe - and verily, it is but in their footsteps that we follow!" 23 ۞ He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)." 24 So We took vengeance upon them; and behold how was the end of them that cried lies. 25